The City of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux, administrative districts, referred to as arrondissements (). These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the larger French departments.

The number of the arrondissement is indicated by the last two digits in most Parisian postal codes, 75001 up to 75020. In addition to their number, each arrondissement has a name, often for a local monument. For example, the 5th arrondissement is also called "Panthéon" in reference to the eponymous building. The first four arrondissements have a shared administration, called Paris Centre.

Description The twenty arrondissements (French: "rounding") are arranged in the form of a clockwise spiral, often likened to a snail shell, starting from the middle of the city, with the first on the Right Bank (north bank) of the Seine.

In French, notably on street signs, the number is often given in Roman numerals. For example, the Eiffel Tower belongs to the VIIe arrondissement, while Gare de l'Est is in the Xe arrondissement. In daily speech, people use the ordinal number corresponding to the arrondissement, e.g. "Elle habite dans le sixième", "She lives in the 6th (arrondissement)".

Due to suburbanization, the population of Paris has gradually shifted outward, with only two arrondissements still growing.

Governance

Uniquely among French cities, Paris is both a municipality (commune) and a department (département). Under the PLM Law (Loi PLM) of 1982, which redefined the governance of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille, hence the PLM acronym, there are both a city council called the Council of Paris, and 20 arrondissement councils in Paris. The PLM Law set limits to the prerogatives of the mayor of Paris, who has to deal with the powers granted to the prefect of police on security issues.

The 20 arrondissement councils (conseils d'arrondissement) are similar in operation to a municipal council (conseil municipal), but with very few powers. Its members are elected at municipal elections in the same way as in municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants. Two-thirds of each arrondissement council is made up of members elected specifically as arrondissement councillors. The remaining third are Council of Paris members representing the arrondissement, sitting ex officio.

For example, the council of the 19th arrondissement has 42 members. 28 are conseillers d'arrondissement who only sit on the arrondissement council. 14 are conseillers de Paris who also sit on the city council. At its first meeting after the elections, each arrondissement council elects its mayor.

Each arrondissement is subdivided administratively into four quartiers. Paris thus has 80 quartiers administratifs, each containing a police station. For a table giving the names of the eighty quartiers, see Quarters of Paris.

Arrondissements Coat of arms Arrondissement (R for Right Bank, L for Left Bank) Name Area (km2) Population(2017 estimate) Density (2017)(inhabitants per km2) Peak of population Mayor (2020–2026) 1st (Ier) R Louvre 100,196 (Paris Centre) 17,924 (Paris Center) before 1861 Ariel Weil (PS) 2nd (IIe) R Bourse before 1861 3rd (IIIe) R Temple before 1861 4th (IVe) R Hôtel-de-Ville before 1861 5th (Ve) L Panthéon 59,631 23,477 1911 Florence Berthout (DVD) 6th (VIe) L Luxembourg 41,976 19,524 1911 Jean-Pierre Lecoq (LR) 7th (VIIe) L Palais-Bourbon 52,193 12,761 1926 Rachida Dati (LR) 8th (VIIIe) R Élysée 37,368 9,631 1891 Jeanne d'Hauteserre (LR) 9th (IXe) R Opéra 60,071 27,556 1901 Delphine Bürkli (DVD) 10th (Xe) R Entrepôt 90,836 31,431 1881 Alexandra Cordebard (PS) 11th (XIe) R Popincourt 147,470 40,183 1911 François Vauglin (PS) 12th (XIIe) R Reuilly 141,287 8,65721,729 1962 Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie (EELV) 13th (XIIIe) L Gobelins 183,399 25,650 2005 Jérôme Coumet (PS) 14th (XIVe) L Observatoire 136,941 24,280 1954 Carine Petit (Gt.s) 15th (XVe) L Vaugirard 235,178 27,733 1962 Philippe Goujon (LR) 16th (XVIe) R Passy 149,500 9,16919,054 1962 Francis Szpiner (LR) 17th (XVIIe) R Batignolles-Monceau 168,737 29,760 1954 Geoffroy Boulard (LR) 18th (XVIIIe) R Butte-Montmartre 196,131 32,634 1931 Éric Lejoindre (PS) 19th (XIXe) R Buttes-Chaumont 188,066 27,697 2005 François Dagnaud (PS) 20th (XXe) R Ménilmontant 191,800 32,052 1936 Éric Pliez (DVG)

History

On 11 October 1795, Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements. They were numbered from west to east. The numbers 1–9 were on the Right Bank of the Seine. The numbers were 10–12 on the Left Bank. Each arrondissement was subdivided into four quartiers, which corresponded to the 48 original districts created in 1790.

In the late 1850s, Emperor Napoleon III and the Prefect of the Seine Baron Haussmann developed a plan to incorporate several of the surrounding communes into the Paris jurisdiction. In 1859, Parliament passed the necessary legislation, and the expansion took effect when the law was promulgated on 3 November 1859. City taxes were extended to the new neighborhoods in July 1860.

The previous twelve arrondissements were done away with, and twenty new arrondissements were created. In historical records, when it is necessary to distinguish between the two systems, the original arrondissements are indicated by adding the term ancienne ("former" or "old"), for example, 2ème ancienne or 7ème anc.

Before the reorganization, non-married couples who lived together were said to have "married at the town hall of the 13th arrondissement" ("se marier à la mairie du 13e arrondissement"), as a jocular reference to there being no 13th. When Haussmann released his plan for the new boundaries and numbering system, residents of Passy objected because it placed them in the new 13th arrondissement. The mayor of Passy, Jean-Frédéric Possoz, devised the numbering of the arrondissements in a spiral pattern, beginning on the Right Bank, which put Passy in the 16th. This system turned the Louvre area, which contained the Tuileries Palace and other imperial palaces, into the 1st. The Gobelins area became the 13th instead.

In early 2016, mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed that the first four arrondissements should have their administrations merged. The Council of Paris approved this in February 2016. The four have a combined population of about 100,000, with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 3rd arrondissements in that order being the four smallest in Paris. In August 2016, the matter was taken up in the National Assembly, and approved in February 2017.Paris Council Plans to Combine Arrondissements from frenchly.usParis redraws map as four arrondissements unite under new name from The Local France

In October 2018, in a postal referendum, the town hall of the 3rd arrondissement was chosen to house the new shared administration. The name "Paris Centre" was chosen for the sector. In June 2020, the reform was implemented, the day after the second round of the 2020 Paris municipal election. The four arrondissements now share a mayor and a district council. The four arrondissements continue to exist, but are no longer used as administrative and electoral sectors.Paris Council Plans to Combine Arrondissements from frenchly.usParis redraws map as four arrondissements unite under new name from The Local France

Logos of the town halls

Works Paris, je t'aime, a 2006 film composed of five-minute sequences on each arrondissement

See also Arrondissement, for other uses of the term. Historical quarters of Paris Administration of Paris

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links Official Paris website Website showing location, numbering conventions, and general info for arrondissements